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Richard Roeper
Roeper at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival
Roeper at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival
Born Richard E. Roeper
(1959-10-17) October 17, 1959 (age 65)
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
Occupation Columnist
Alma mater Illinois State University
Subject Film criticism

Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American columnist and film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times. He co-hosted the television series At the Movies with Roger Ebert from 2000 to 2008, serving as the late Gene Siskel's successor. From 2010 to 2014, he co-hosted The Roe and Roeper Show with Roe Conn on WLS-AM. From October 2015 to October 2017, Roeper served as the host of the FOX 32 morning show Good Day Chicago.

Early life

Roeper was born in Chicago, Illinois. He grew up in south suburban Dolton, Illinois and attended Thornridge High School, before graduating from Illinois State University in 1982 with a bachelor's degree in journalism. While still a student at the university, he auditioned for the movie review program Sneak Previews when Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert (his future co-host on At the Movies) left the program, which he was obviously turned down.

Career

Roeper began working as a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times in 1986. The topics of his columns ranged from politics to media to entertainment. He has been voted the best columnist in Illinois by the Associated Press on numerous occasions.

He has also written seven books on topics ranging from movies to urban legends to conspiracy theories to the Chicago White Sox. In 2009, Roeper appeared on Howard Stern's show and said he had written a book on gambling, entitled Bet the House, which was released in the first quarter of 2010.

Roeper was a radio host on WLS AM 890 in Chicago. He also hosted shows on WLUP-FM, WLS-FM, and WMVP-AM in Chicago.In the early 2000s, he was the film critic for CBS in Chicago for three years.

His columns have been syndicated by The New York Times to worldwide publications. Roeper has written for a number of magazines, including Esquire, Spy, TV Guide, and Entertainment Weekly. In 2001, he was named one of People magazine's most eligible bachelors.

Roeper was a frequent guest on The Tonight Show, Live with Regis and Kelly, The O'Reilly Factor, and countless other national programs. He also hosted Starz Inside, a monthly documentary series that aired on the Starz network. Roeper appeared on the first episode of the fifth season of Entourage, where he reviewed a fake movie titled Medellin with Michael Phillips on At the Movies. In April 2008, Roeper was the central figure on an episode of Top Chef, where contestants served up movie-themed dishes to Roeper and his friends (including Aisha Tyler).

In February 2009, Roeper launched his website, which features movie reviews, blog entries, photos, and Twitter posts. In December 2009, he launched a video section that featured on-camera reviews of movies. The video segments were originally produced in partnership with the Starz premium cable channel. Roeper announced that the reviews would appear first on his site, then on the Starz channel.

In December 2009, it was reported that Roeper had signed with ReelzChannel to be a regular contributor. Beginning in December 2010, Roeper began producing video reviews for ReelzChannel. He stopped reviewing movies for ReelzChannel in February 2015; his final review was for the Jude Law disaster film Black Sea.

From April 12, 2010, to October 7, 2014, he co-hosted The Roe & Roeper Show with Roe Conn on Chicago's WLS 890 radio station from 2-6 pm CST.

In October 2015, Roeper joined the cast of the Fox Chicago morning TV show Good Day Chicago. He signed off from that morning TV show on October 18, 2017.

Roeper was suspended from the Sun-Times on January 29, 2018, pending an investigation into allegations that he had purchased Twitter followers. On February 2, the Sun-Times released a statement stating that their investigation did find that Roeper purchased over 25,000 fake followers. The paper later reinstated him, though he was required to begin using a new account on which he was explicitly disallowed from buying followers.

Film critic

After Gene Siskel of Siskel & Ebert died on February 20, 1999, Roger Ebert co-hosted the show with nearly 30 guest critics. After ten appearances on the program, Roeper was offered the opportunity to co-host the popular film review show with Ebert permanently. The series was renamed Ebert & Roeper and the Movies in 2000. The title was shortened to Ebert & Roeper in 2001. Before this, he conducted an interview in 1995 with Siskel and Ebert to commemorate the 20th anniversary of their partnership.

Beginning in August 2006, while his co-host Roger Ebert was recovering from cancer surgery, Roeper was joined by numerous guest critics, including Clerks director Kevin Smith, The Tonight Show host Jay Leno, and singer-songwriter John Mellencamp. On Sunday, July 20, 2008, Roeper announced that he was leaving the show in mid-August and would return with a new show later in the year. However, plans for a new program starring Roeper failed to materialize.

Between 2009 and late 2010, Roeper contributed video reviews to Starz. In December 2010, he moved to ReelzChannel, where he contributed a segment titled Richard Roeper's Reviews every weekday at 5:00 pm ET. Roeper remained with the network until early 2015. In early 2013, Roeper began contributing film reviews to RogerEbert.com. On September 12, 2013, it was announced that Roeper will replace Roger Ebert as the main movie critic for the Chicago Sun-Times after his death on April 4, 2013 at the age of 70. In August 2014, Roeper became first-string film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, where he made his debut reviewing Guardians of the Galaxy. He is a member of Chicago Film Critics Association.

Preferences

Favorites

Roeper has cited The Maltese Falcon, The Godfather trilogy, and Ferris Bueller's Day Off as among his favorite films. On Ferris Bueller's Day Off he stated that, "It has one of the highest 'repeatability' factors of any film I've ever seen...I can watch it again and again. There's also this, and I say in all sincerity: Ferris Bueller's Day Off is something of a suicide prevention film or, at the very least, a story about a young man trying to help his friend gain some measure of self-worth...Ferris has made it his mission to show Cameron that the whole world in front of him is passing him by and that life can be pretty sweet if you wake up and embrace it. That's the lasting message of Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Roeper pays homage to the film with a license plate that says "SVFRRIS".

In a 2000 interview, he cited Woody Allen as a hero of filmmaking. Among his favorite films from the 1990s are Goodfellas, Pulp Fiction, Heat, Good Will Hunting, and Notting Hill. In November 2004, on a special segment of Ebert & Roeper, Roeper stated that his all-time favorite film about Thanksgiving is Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

Best films of the year

Since 2000, Roeper has compiled an annual film list which provides an overview of his critical preferences.

Year #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10
2000 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Traffic The Claim The Contender Wonder Boys Finding Forrester You Can Count on Me Sunshine Cast Away Almost Famous
2001 Memento Vanilla Sky Mulholland Drive A Beautiful Mind In the Bedroom Amores perros Dinner Rush Happy Accidents The Deep End Shallow Hal
2002 Gangs of New York 25th Hour Minority Report Y Tu Mamá También Adaptation Signs Rabbit-Proof Fence About Schmidt One Hour Photo About a Boy
2003 In America Mystic River Lost in Translation 21 Grams Elephant The Barbarian Invasions The Station Agent Whale Rider Monster Seabiscuit
2004 Hotel Rwanda Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind The Aviator Sideways House of Flying Daggers Million Dollar Baby The Terminal Kill Bill: Volume 2 Spanglish Collateral
2005 Syriana The New World Crash Munich Nine Lives Capote Brokeback Mountain A History of Violence Walk the Line The 40-Year-Old Virgin
2006 The Departed The Queen Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima United 93 The Lives of Others Babel Notes on a Scandal The Good Shepherd Little Miss Sunshine Blood Diamond
2007 Michael Clayton No Country for Old Men The Lookout Juno American Gangster Gone Baby Gone Zodiac Superbad Once Paris, je t'aime
2008 Slumdog Millionaire The Dark Knight The Wrestler In Bruges I've Loved You So Long Gran Torino Milk The Visitor Forgetting Sarah Marshall Frozen River
2009 Brothers Up in the Air The Hurt Locker (500) Days of Summer Inglourious Basterds Up Avatar Adventureland An Education The Informant!
2000s The Departed In America Traffic Memento House of Flying Daggers Mystic River Slumdog Millionaire 25th Hour Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Hotel Rwanda
2010 Inception The Fighter The Social Network The Kids Are All Right The Town Toy Story 3 127 Hours True Grit The King's Speech Somewhere
2011 Drive The Artist Contagion The Tree of Life The Descendants Young Adult Source Code Moneyball The Beaver Hugo
2012 Zero Dark Thirty Argo The Grey Life of Pi The Dark Knight Rises Django Unchained Flight The Sessions Prometheus Lincoln
2013 American Hustle Out of the Furnace Mud Gravity The Spectacular Now Captain Phillips Nebraska All Is Lost 12 Years a Slave The Counselor
2014 Boyhood Interstellar Locke Birdman The Drop Whiplash A Most Wanted Man Foxcatcher A Most Violent Year Guardians of the Galaxy
2015 Room Inside Out The Revenant The Big Short Mad Max: Fury Road The Hateful Eight Sicario Spotlight Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens Straight Outta Compton
2016 Manchester by the Sea Hell or High Water Moonlight La La Land Sully Lights Out Zootopia The Infiltrator Silence Arrival
2017 Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri The Post Wind River Dunkirk Baby Driver Blade Runner 2049 The Big Sick Molly's Game It Detroit
2018 Widows Roma BlacKkKlansman Leave No Trace Lean on Pete A Star Is Born Black Panther Blindspotting Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse Mission: Impossible – Fallout
2019 The Irishman Once Upon a Time in Hollywood The Farewell Uncut Gems Waves Booksmart Fast Color Little Women Parasite Queen & Slim
2010s The Social Network Boyhood Widows The Irishman Mad Max: Fury Road Room Moonlight Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Once Upon a Time in Hollywood American Hustle
2020 Nomadland The Trial of the Chicago 7 News of the World Soul Da 5 Bloods The Midnight Sky Ma Rainey's Black Bottom Saint Frances Let Them All Talk Palm Springs
2021 Belfast Licorice Pizza West Side Story Pig The Card Counter Those Who Wish Me Dead Old Henry In the Heights The Harder They Fall A Quiet Place: Part II
2022 The Whale The Banshees of Inisherin Aftersun Nope To Leslie X and Pearl Emily the Criminal Tár The Black Phone The Fabelmans
2023 Oppenheimer Killers of the Flower Moon Air The Killer Maestro May December Dream Scenario The Color Purple Joy Ride Barbie
2024 Small Things Like These Anora Fancy Dance Babygirl September 5 A Complete Unknown Challengers Sing Sing His Three Daughters Nosferatu

Filmography (selected)

Year Title Role Notes
2000-2008 At the Movies Host/Guest Host 411 episodes
2000; 2006 Chicago Tonight Himself 2 episodes
2000 Late Night with Conan O'Brien Guest Episode: "Roger Ebert & Richard Roeper/Bernie Mac/Tara MacLean"
Charlie Rose Guest 1 episode
2001-2013 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno Guest 23 episodes
2001 The Daily Show Himself 1 episode
2003-2008 E! True Hollywood Story Himself 4 episodes
2004 101 Biggest Celebrity Oops Himself
101 Most Unforgettable SNL Moments Himself
Retrosexual: The 80's Himself
Non-Denominational All-Star Celebrity Holiday Special Himself
Jimmy Kimmel Live! Himself 1 episode
2005 Dennis Miller Himself 1 episode
The Factor Himself 1 episode
The Tony Danza Show Himself 3 episodes
2006 Supertwink Himself Uncredited
The Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame... Himself Episode: "Bob Knight for his repeated outbursts"
2006 Independent Spirit Awards Audience Member
Howard Stern On Demand Judge Episode: "The Howard Stern Film Festival"
2007-2008 Live with Regis and Kelly Himself 2 episodes
2007 Heckler Himself
2008 An Evening at the Academy Awards Co-Host
Top Chef Guest Judge Episode: "Film Food"
Entourage Himself Episode: "Fantasy Island"
2009-2010 Richard Roeper & the Movies Himself 85 episodes
2009 This Is Our Moment: Election Night 2008 Commentator
The Hour Himself 1 episode
Don't You Forget Me Himself
The Jay Leno Show Himself 1 episode
Clarkworld Himself
2010-2011 ReelzChannel Spotlight Host 5 episodes
Hollywood's Top Ten Reelz Channel Movie Reviewer 9 episodes
2010 Richard Roeper's Reviews Himself 5 episodes
Prime 9 Himself 2 episodes
2011-2013 ReelzChannel Specials Himself 3 episodes
2014 Madzilla! Himself
2015-2017 Poker Night in America Himself 17 episodes
2015-2018 Roeper's Reviews Himself 162 episodes
2016 The Timeline Himself Episode: "The Fog Bowl"
2020 Skin: A History of ... in the Movies Himself

Accolades

In 1992, he was awarded the National Headliner Award as the top newspaper columnist in the country. He won two Chicago / Midwest Emmy Awards awards for his news commentaries on Fox. On April 11, 2020, Roeper was awarded the Roger Ebert Award at the 2020 AAFCA Special Achievement Award Luncheon.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Richard Roeper para niños

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